Did You Know The Ottomans Were Still Ruling When The Chicago Cubs Last Won A World Series?

The Ottoman Empire was still around for another 14 years following the Chicago Cubs' most recent World Series title.

Left: 1908 Chicago Cubs, the last Cubs team to win a World Series. Right: Mehmed VI, last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, who was exiled in 1922.

Who "Gummed" Up The Works In Wrigley Field?

Did you know that, of all Major League Baseball (MLB) teams in the United States, the Chicago Cubs holds one of the worst claims to fame in the game? It has not won a World Series championship for over a century now, one hundred and seven years to be exact. The Chicago Cubs belong to the National League Central Division, and call Wrigley Field their home turf. The team competes in Major League Baseball, wherein the Chicago Cubs and the Atlanta Braves are the two oldest baseball teams in the US still in existence, as they both started playing in the major leagues in 1876. The Cubs won their last Major League Baseball titles in 1907 and 1908, with back-to-back wins in the World Series Championships that have not been replicated since.

A Long, Proud Ottoman Legacy

In 1299, Osman I founded the Turkish Ottoman Empire. In 1453, the Ottomans conquered the eastern Roman Byzantine Empire and ended the last vestiges of the Roman Empire with the fall of Constantinople. The Ottomans then made Constantinople their new capital as well. They were Sunni Islam, and ruled with an absolute monarchic ruler from a succession in the House of Osman. The rule lasted for six centuries, constantly creating and losing parts of the vast empire. It declined slowly until World War I, when it joined Germany as part of the Central Powers, but failed to pacify internal bickering within its own ranks. Its occupation of certain nations caused its ultimate disintegration, as the Allied Powers occupied these and even its own home country, resulting in the creation of Turkey after the empire was dissolved in 1922.

Last Hurrahs in Context

The Chicago Cubs won their last World Series Championships back-to-back in 1907 and 1908, at a time when the long-lived while the Ottoman Empire was still ruling. The empire did not dissolve until November 1st, 1922. Along with those tidbits of trivia, here are more of the same humorous references to the last time the Cubs won the World Series. The last time the boys from Wrigley Field won an MLB Championship:

The Internet did not exist yet, so obviously no websites had ever been put up.

The planet Pluto was not a recognized planet yet. It was discovered in 1930 and today, it is once again not counted among "true" planets.

The Eiffel Tower was the tallest structure in the world.

Canned beer was not served to anyone at baseball games or anywhere else, as no one has heard of it yet. It was first available in 1935.

Hawaii, Alaska, New Mexico, and Arizona were not yet U.S. states.

Evolution of the Cubs Franchise

Did you know that the Chicago Cubs started as the Chicago White Stockings in 1876, and remained as such until 1889? Then, the franchise went through many other iterations. They were the Chicago Colts from 1890 to 1897, then the Chicago Orphans from 1898 to 1902. Could it be that the name Orphans had something to do with the losing streak which has lasted for over a century? But wait! The Chicago Cubs did not always have that losing streak, and have been successful to some degree despite not winning it all in the time since 1908. Here are the Major League titles that have been won by the Chicago Cubs over the years: